Kent-Meridian wrestlers flexing their might on the mat

Kentridge High School isn’t the only Kent school with representatives in state wrestling rankings.

Kent-Meridian also holds top slots in state rankings. Logan Jefferson currently is 10th in the 182-pound class and Amos Daigbe holds fourth place in the 170-pound division.

“It’s cool seeing my name up there,” said Jefferson, who sees his state placement as proper validation of his hard work. But he says that it hasn’t been easy to come to where he is.

“I come into the wrestling season with certain morals and ethics and motivations, and then leave with goals and accomplishments.”

A seasoned veteran on the team, Jefferson has been wrestling for more than seven years. The most important part of training for him is making sure he has adequate time to recover from his matches. One of the key parts of this is making sure he takes care of work ahead of time in school so he has adequate time to rest and recover during the evening. His preferred method? Swimming.

Over the next few weeks, he says the most challenging part of training will be straddling the line between pushing himself personally without overworking or hurting himself.

“I’m going to go full force into my training, but I’m not going to risk any injuries,” he says.

Daigbe is another wrestler gunning for a top spot come league meets. After a loss to Zach Seibel during a match, Daigbe’s confidence was shaken, but he’s still proud of his work in the last two years. The wrestler put in many hours of extra time after practice to get to where he is now.

“When I started the season and I started winning and stuff, people be like ‘this guy just does it, it’s easy.’ But it’s really not easy,” says Daigbe. He says that his placement comes from plenty of extra work over the season, including many hours of post practice workouts.

“I’d just try to build my muscles up. Do push-ups, work on my core, ’cause if you don’t have a strong core you’re not gonna be strong or do anything. Work on my explosive. Work on my shot. Do sprint, just stay in conditioning.”

For Daigbe, the hardest moments in training come from getting back into a competitive attitude after a tournament, and maintaining victor’s mindset. “When you come back it’s gonna hurt, and you have to push through that pain.”

The key to maintaining his discipline is to envision his competition and know that they won’t be giving him any ground when it comes time to wrestle.

“What if the other guy was here looking at me? He’s gonna be like ‘oh that kid’s not working hard, I’m gonna beat him,’ so I just think about that and push myself.”

Regardless of how the K-M wrestlers perform in the next few weeks, they’ll be able to look back on their season with a sense of pride that comes from hard work.”